OH SO CLOSE FOR GATORS …

  

By Mike Buchanan
mbuchanan@digitalsports.com

 

Sometimes it’s easier to lose big than to lose a game that goes down to the wire.  With the latter, a coach can second-guess and wonder what if, over and over and over.

St. Paul’s Coach Tierney Ahearn has probably been doing a lot of what-iffing the past 24 hours, after her team lost to John Carroll, 12-11, on Tuesday in the IAAM lacrosse quarter-finals.

Tierney’s team nearly pulled off the upset of the season.  St. Paul’s SG had lost at John Carroll in the regular season by 12 goals, 16-4.  Add in the fact that the aura of invincibility of an undefeated team grows with each added win.  The Patriots were 12-0 in the IAAM and 16-0 overall.

So, John Carroll was playing at home, well-rested after an opening-round bye, and going up against an opponent it had beaten handily before.  They looked all but unbeatable.  On paper, it was a no-brainer to chalk up another win for the Patriots.

But the games are not played on paper, and SPSG certainly proved that with Tuesday’s performance.

After Friday’s 12-11 win over Roland Park Country, Tierney was asked about her team’s chances at John Carroll in the quarter-finals.  She said, “We will have to make history. We will have to bring our “A” game.”

If an “A” would have produced a win, then you’d certainly have to give the Gators a mark of A-minus, and throw in some extra-credit points for good measure.

Tierney probably should have said that her team would need an A-plus performance.  After all, JC has not lost a game.  The Patriots had only been tested in a few games.  They had won four games by five goals or less.  The rest of the wins were by an average of 10.3 goals.  Severn had been the only team to come within one goal (10-9), and Bryn Mawr lost by just two (10-8).  So it really would take a supreme effort to upend JC.

And the Gators nearly did it.

St. Paul’s played well from the start, and actually took a 6-5 lead into the half.  John Carroll went on a run in the middle of the second half and took the lead. The Patriots held a 10-7 lead at one point.  Tierney called time-out at about the five-minute mark, imploring her team to give maximum effort, to leave it all on the field, as it was do-or-die time with the season on the brink.

And they responded.  The Gators scored once.  They got the draw and scored again to make it a one-goal game.  “At that point, they had the lead but we had the momentum.  I told the girls that we are going to get the draw, and we are going to run the offense and we are going to score,” said Tierney.

She got the first two correct, and just missed on the third.  The Gators did control the ensuing draw and did run their offense to create a good shot.  But it’s a game of inches at times, and the good shot they got hit the pipe.  With under a minute to play, John Carroll got possession and was able to run out the clock to seal the win.

“We played well in all areas – offense, defense, goal-tending. We got plenty of scoring chances out of our offense.  We didn’t force things; in fact, I think Kirsten Goldberg (who had scored seven goals on Friday at RPCS) only got five shots, and scored three goals.  We created good opportunities.  We had the momentum at the end.  We just ran out of clock; if they game had gone another three or four minutes…,” said Tierney, playing the what-if game again.

As for the difference versus JC from a 12-goal loss to a one-goal loss, Tierney credited the defense the most.  “We put in a crazy defense.  We had three players face-guarding their top three scorers, and the other four in a zone – it was a box-and-three in basketball terms,” she said.  “Iliana Sanza guarded Ally Carey, Hayward Sawers guarded Grace Gaeng and Liz Vlk had Casey Ancarrow.  They all did a great job.”

Carey, Gaeng and Ancarrow usually put up big numbers, but the Gator defense held them in check, as they scored two goals apiece.  Anne Brockmeyer had three to lead JC.

Tierney had high praise for her entire team, but especially for Sanza.  “Iliana had a phenomenal game.  She scored five goals, had one assist, three draw controls, three interceptions and seven forced-turnovers.  She was even better on defense.  She guarded Ally Carey, maybe the top recruit in the country, and held her to one goal.  Carey scored two or three, but the others came off of forced goalie turnovers.”

Sanza (5g) and Goldberg (3g) combined for eight goals.  Kate Cathell, Julie Ruppersberger and Sawers scored one each.  Barb Black got her first-ever varsity start in goal, based on a coaching hunch and decision from Tierney.  “It was the hardest decision I’ve had to make in coaching, deciding to sit senior goalie Isabel Harvey and go with Black, a sophomore.  I just thought it was the right decision for our defense for that game.  Barb did have two goalie turnovers, but one was really a team turnover.  But she had nine saves, and some of them were great saves.”

St. Paul’s SG was 4-8 in the IAAM regular season, and finished with an overall record of 7-12.  “As a group, it took us awhile to come together.  I was an assistant last year, and it took them awhile to buy into what we were trying to do this season.”

The record doesn’t stand out, but it is the mark of a successful season when a team plays far better at the end than it did at the beginning.  And the Gators certainly got a grade of “A” in that department.

John Carroll 12, St. Paul’s SG 11
Goals: SP - Sanza 5, Goldberg 3, Cathell, Ruppersberger, Sawers; JC - Brockmeyer 3, Carey 2, Ancarrow 2, Gaeng 2, Dashiell, Gray, Kiriazaglou. Assists: SP - Sanza 2, Hefner; JC - Aburn, Dashiell, Ancarrow, Carey, Brockmeyer, Gaeng. Saves: SP - Black 9; JC - McGehee 4.
Half: SP, 6-5.